The Firmware Realm : XYZ state and properties

When analysing the list of sources of errors, I had to investigate what matters to get the router bit in the right position.

So I drew some sort of flow chart showing what I thought the firmware functions must consider to control the router XYZ position.

First sketch is about XY position. Here you can see the motor power input (starting with the PWM box), ending in two directions: first the updated encoder counts, second the router (or sled) position changing while hung at the chain tips. Note that the frame geometry is part of another section not shown here.

Note: Left motor details omitted for clarity.

FirmwareParametersDefinition_XY

And here is my sketch for the Z position. Similar to the first one, but more involved into the router bit position:

FirmwareParametersDefinition_Z

For the Firmware to control the XYZ position, it has to operate motors by generating power signals (PWM) and listen to encoders step counts to monitor a movement estimation of the router bit.

As you can see in the sketches, there are a few details involved into going across direction #2 from shaft rotation to router position.

That is a simplified view of the MaslowCNC reality: Sketches do not include the effect of workspace surface interactions (router bit cutting forces, sled friction, material flatness).

3 Likes

That is a beautiful diagram. Can we work it into the documentation somewhere? I feel like this would be of significant benefit to have in the documentation.

Where would you have wanted to see this when you were starting to dig in? In the README?

@Gero , @madgrizzle and others, we are bringing documentaiton into the Wiki. This diagram is of general scope to the MaslowCNC operation. It is not exactly useful to the code reviewer because it does not refer to functions nor variables used in the firmware. It is more about the upstream functional definition ( and actually points out some things missing into the current firmware). Maybe the Firmware README could link to the wiki specif pages for general technical details. :arrows_counterclockwise:

1 Like